Method and apparatus for feeding wildlife and aquatics

ABSTRACT

A totally enclosed remote feeder for periodically dispensing feed is shown. A rechargeable battery powers a compressor which fills a pressure tank to a predetermined pressure. A timer operates a solenoid at predetermined intervals to cause a blast of air from the pressure tank to flow out through upwardly angled discharged pipe. Feed from an internal hopper flows downward in the discharge pipe in a predetermined amount prior to being discharged by the blast of air.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an apparatus and method for feeding wildlifeand aquatics and, more particularly, to an enclosed feeder that can befilled while standing on the ground, yet projects a quantity of feed adistance away from the feeder with a sudden burst of pressurized air.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In many parts of the United States, hunting has become big business. Onmany ranches, more money is made off the hunting leases than is made offthe raising of livestock. To attract hunters and to get a premium pricefor a lease, it is important that the hunters be able to kill the gamethey are hunting.

The most common method of hunting white-tailed deer is the use of afeeder that periodically feeds the deer. A blind for the hunter islocated a short distance away, but within line of sight with the feeder.Leading up to the hunting season, feed such as corn is put in a feederthat will automatically dispense the feed at a predetermined time,normally shortly after daybreak. By the time hunting season arrives, thedeer is used to going to the feeder after daybreak to eat some dispensedfeed (typically corn).

When hunting season arrives, the hunter goes out to a deer blind that iswithin visible shooting distance of the deer feeder. The hunter willarrive before the scheduled dispensing of feed. If everything worksaccording to plan, shortly after daybreak, the deer feeder will dispensefeed, the deer will arrive and at daybreak, the hunter will have anopportunity to harvest the deer feeding next to the deer feeder.

Following the above scenario, whoever is managing the deer lease willperiodically fill the deer feeders. Many different types of deer feedershave been designed, built and installed on leases. One type of deerfeeder is located up high in a tree or on a stand. These types of deerfeeders have to be lowered, or have some way provided, so that a personcan fill the deer feeder. This is a very cumbersome task and sometimesrequires two people.

Another problem that exists is that wild animals may get into or tipover the deer feeders. Wild or feral hogs are a problem in many parts ofthe country. The wild or feral hogs will root around and tip over thedeer feeder, causing the feed to spill on the ground. Also, wild animalsor rodents may get up inside of the deer feeder itself to eat the feed.

Another problem that exists with the current deer feeders is the deerfeeders do not dispense an accurate measured quantity of feed. The feedthat is dispensed has a tendency to fall right below the deer feeder andnot be projected some distance away from the deer feeder.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved methodand apparatus for feeding wildlife and aquatics.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a feeder thatcan be filled by someone standing on the ground.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a feederthat cannot be tipped over, spilled, or destroyed by surroundingwildlife.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a feederthat will project feed a substantial distance away from the feeder.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a feederthat can periodically be filled by one person and has a timer fordispensing measured amounts of feed at predetermined times.

The feeder is located relatively close to the ground with a top that canbe removed and the feeder refilled by someone standing on the ground. Ahopper inside of the feeder holds the feed until the feed is dispensedout of a discharge pipe upon receiving a blast of pressurized air. Uponreceiving a blast of pressurized air, any feed contained in thedischarge pipe is shot out of the end thereof. This causes the feed tobe hurled a substantial distance away from the feeder. By angling thedischarge pipe at an angle of between 30° and 45°, the maximumprojection of the feed can be accomplished from a predetermined airblast.

To make the system self-sustaining, solar panels are used to rechargebatteries, which batteries operate a compressor that will fill a tankwith pressurized air. With the proper operation of solenoid valves,periodic blasts of air can be dispensed from a discharge pipe.Meanwhile, if the discharge pipe is filled with feed, the feed will beblown out of the discharge pipe with the pressurized air. By the properuse of the timer and the setting of the feeder, predetermined amounts offeed can be dispensed at predetermined intervals by the feeder. Byhaving the entire feeder enclosed, animals or rodents cannot get intothe feeder and eat the non-dispensed feed. Also, by having the feedertotally enclosed, the likelihood that a wild animal will damage thefeeder is greatly reduced. By the top of the feeder being approximatelyshoulder height, a single individual can dump feed into the top of thefeeder.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cut-away perspective view of the feeder.

FIG. 2 is a top view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the inside of the feeder with the lid removed.

FIG. 5 is a top view of the control portion of the feeder.

FIG. 6 is an illustrative electrical schematic of the feeder.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the feeder with various attachmentsbeing illustrated to disperse the feed.

FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view of the discharge pipe of the feeder.

FIG. 8A is a bottom view of FIG. 8 along lines 8 a-8 a.

FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 8 along section lines 8 b-8 b.

FIG. 9A is a top view the end of the discharge pipe of the feeder withan attachment thereon.

FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 9 a along section lines 9 b-9b.

FIG. 9C is an end view of FIG. 9 a.

FIG. 10A is a top view the end of the discharge pipe of the feeder withan attachment thereon.

FIG. 10B is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 10A along section lines10B-10B.

FIG. 10C is an end view of FIG. 10A.

FIG. 11 is an end view of the discharge pipe of the feeder with adifferent attachment thereon.

FIG. 12 is a partial sectional view of the feeder illustrating analternative way of filling the discharge pipe.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 in combination, the feeder representedgenerally by reference numeral 20 is shown. The feeder 20 isapproximately shoulder height and has a rectangular box shape 22. Therectangular box shape 22 has a top 24 connected on one side by hinges26. The top 24 may be secured in a closed position by safety hasp 28.

The rectangular box shape 22 has a bottom 30 that can sit directly onthe ground, but in the preferred embodiment has corner braces 32extending out from each of the corners. The corner braces 32 may beangled out and welded on the upper ends thereof to the corners of therectangular box shape 22. Being angled out towards the bottom preventsthe feeder 20 from being tipped over by animals.

On the upper outside of the rectangular box shape 22 is a solar panel 34that connects to the internal controls as will be subsequentlydescribed.

By opening the lid 24 on the feeder 20 as shown in FIG. 3, an individualcan fill an internal hopper with feed such as corn. The internal hopper36 is shown in FIG. 4. The internal hopper 36 has a discharge opening 38through which feed contained in the internal hopper 36 may flow. Thedischarge opening 38 connects to a T-joint 40 (see FIG. 1).

Referring to FIG. 3, a door 42 is provided in the bottom of therectangular box shape 22, which door 42 is mounted on hinges 44 and maybe closed with a safety hasp 46. Inside of the door 42 is the firingmechanism 48 of the feeder 20 (see FIG. 1). The electrical schematicdiagram of the firing mechanism 48 is shown in FIG. 6.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 5 and 6 in combination, a rechargeable battery 50is mounted on the bottom 30 of the rectangular box shape 22. Therechargeable battery 50 connects to a pressure switch 52 that measuresthe pressure inside of pressure tank 54. Also, a pressure indicator 56(see FIG. 1) gives a visual indication as to the pressure inside ofpressure tank 54.

If the pressure measured by the pressure switch 52 drops below apredetermined pressure, switches are closed by the pressure switch 52and filling solenoid 58 is activated closing normally open contacts 60,thereby connecting the compressor 62 to the battery 50. The compressor62 will draw air in through the filter 64 and discharge compressed airthrough compressed air line 66 to the pressure tank 54. Once pressureinside a pressure tank 54 reaches the predetermined level, power to thefilling solenoid 58 will be removed and normally open contacts 60opened.

After the pressure tank 54 has been filled, timer 68, which connects tothe rechargeable battery 50, is set so that at a designated time,contacts will close connecting firing solenoid 70 to the rechargeablebattery 50. Upon connecting the firing solenoid 70 to the rechargeablebattery 50, the firing solenoid 70 operates solenoid valve 72. Solenoidvalve 72 is only activated for a fraction of a second before it closesagain. During that fraction of a second, a blast of air leaves thepressure tank 54, moves through tank elbow 74, through solenoid valve 72and discharge elbow 76. Then, the blast of pressurized air moves throughconnecting tube 78, flare 80 to T-joint 40. Anything located in T-joint40, such as animal feed, is blasted out of discharge pipe 82 with theburst of pressurized air. The upper opening 84 in the T-joint 40 isconnected to the discharge opening 38 of the internal hopper 36. SeeFIGS. 1, 4 and 5 in combination.

To keep the rechargeable battery 50 charged, the solar panel 34 isconnected to the rechargeable battery 50 (see FIG. 6). The solar panel34 includes the necessary components to generate electricity fromsunlight to recharge rechargeable battery 50. In case something shortsout in the electrical circuit shown in FIG. 6, a fuse 86 is included inthe circuit.

To control the direction in which the feed will be projected out ofdischarge pipe 82, different attachments may be connected to the end ofthe discharge pipe 82. Some alternative connections that may beconnected to the end of the discharge pipe 82 are shown in FIG. 7, suchas the side flare 88, T-joint connection 90, slight flare 92,directional attachment 94 or large flair 96. Each of these attachmentswill project the animal feed in a different pattern.

To adjust the amount of feed being projected out of the discharge pipe82, the T-joint 40 may be modified as shown in FIGS. 8, 8 a and 8 b. Aperforated plate 98 is located in the passage 100 of the T-joint 40. Theperforated plate 98 is attached to one end of half-cylinder 102 by anyconvenient means, such as welding. The blast of air can move through theperforations in the perforated plate 98. The position of the perforatedplate 98 and the half-cylinder 102 may be adjusted by removing the wingnut 104 and moving the screw 106, which attaches to the half cylinder102, to one of the other holes 108 of the T-joint 40. As shown in FIG. 8a, the screw 106 can move along the slot 110 until it would reach a newnotch 112.

By moving the perforated plate 98 to the left as shown in FIG. 8, morefeed will accumulate inside of the T-joint 40. By moving the perforatedplate 98 to the right, less feed will accumulate in the T-joint 40. Inthis manner, the amount of feed being delivered can be regulated.

One of the problems that has existed in the past is that animals andvarmints would go inside of any opening to get to the feed containedinside of a deer feeder. To prevent that from occurring with the presentinvention, a hinge cover 114 is threadably connected to the end ofdischarge pipe 82 as shown in FIGS. 10A, 10B, and 10C. As seen in thetop view of FIG. 10A, the hinge cover 114 is connected to a hinge pin116 via a cover retainer 118. On the opposite end of the cover retainer118 is a counterweight 117 that is just enough weight to retain hingecover 114 to the closed position, but requiring very little internalpressure to open hinge cover 114, similar to what may be on an exhaustpipe. The cover retainer 118 is connected to the hinged cover 114 by anyconvenient means such as welding. In the middle between the hinge cover114 and the counterweight 117, the cover retainer 118 is pivotallyconnected through hinge pin 116 to hinge bracket 120 on discharge pipe82. The hinge pin 116 is held in position by carter key 122.

By use of the hinge cover 114 with counterweight 117 as described inFIGS. 10A through 10C, once the blast of air comes through the dischargepipe 82, the hinge cover 114 will swing back out of the way for theblast of air and feed exiting the discharge pie 82. Once the blast ofair has passed, the counterweight 117 is just enough to cause hingecover 114 to swing back into place to cover up the large flare 96 shownin FIGS. 10A and 10B.

If the discharge pipe has a directional attachment 94 attached theretoas shown in FIG. 11, the hinge cover 114 will have to connect to a hingebracket 124 that is mounted on the end of directional attachment 94. Thehinged cover 114 will connect to the hinge bracket 124 via coverretainer 126, which has a counterweight 117 on the opposite end thereof.

FIGS. 9A through 9C illustrate the use of an elliptical flare 128connected to the end of the discharge pipe 82. The elliptical cover 130connects to the previously described hinge pin 116 via cover retainer118. Again, the hinge pin, which extends through cover retainer 118 andhinge bracket 120 is held into position by carter key 122. By use of theelliptical flare 128 as shown in FIGS. 9 a through 9 c, the feed will bedispensed over a wider area. The counterweight 117 insures a minimumforce is used to return elliptical cover 130 to the closed positionafter the blast of air and feed passes there through.

Referring now to FIG. 12, an alternative way of controlling the amountof feed being projected out the discharge pipe 82 is shown. By having aremovable restriction 132 between the internal hopper 136 and theT-joint 40, the amount of feed 134 flowing into the T-joint 40 iscontrolled. Therefore, when a blast of air comes through the T-joint 40,only the amount of feed 134 that is fed down into T-joint 40 will bepropelled out of the end of the discharge pipe 82. Proper sizing of therestriction 132, will control how much feed 134 will be propelled out ofdischarge pipe 82 during each cycle.

The restriction 132 may be dropped into the discharge opening 38 (seeFIG. 4) and held in position by the upper flange 136. Once feed 134 isplaced in the internal hopper 36, the amount of feed 134 that will flowthrough the restriction 132 into T-joint 40 is controlled by the angleof repose of the feed 134. The restriction 132 can be changed, whichwill change the amount of feed 134 flowing into the T-joint 40, andbeing discharged during each blast of air.

What I claim is:
 1. A totally enclosed remote animal feeder forperiodically dispensing feed to wild animals comprising: a box standingabout shoulder height; a hopper inside said box with a lower dischargeopening; a top on said box, said top being removable to allow feed to bepoured into said hopper; a lower door in said box to allow access to afiring mechanism located in said box; a battery to provide power to saidfiring mechanism; a compressor for filling a pressure tank when pressuretherein drops below a predetermined level as measured by a pressureswitch, said pressure switch and said compressor being connected to saidbattery; filling solenoid operated by said pressure switch to applypower from said battery to said compressor when said pressure dropsbelow said predetermined level; timer connected to said battery, saidtimer periodically applying power to a firing solenoid to operate asolenoid valve controlling an outlet from said pressure tank, saidfiring solenoid causing a short burst of pressurized air through saidoutlet; and a tube for directing said burst of pressurized air through ajunction and out a discharge pipe, said junction containing said feedfrom said hopper, which feed is projected a distance away from saidfeeder with said burst of pressurized air.
 2. The totally enclosedremote animal feeder for periodically dispensing feed to wild animals asrecited in claim 1 which includes solar panels connected to said batteryto keep said battery charged.
 3. The totally enclosed remote animalfeeder for periodically dispensing feed to wild animals as recited inclaim 2 wherein said discharge pipe is raised at an angle to projectsaid feed a further distance from said feeder.
 4. The totally enclosedremote animal feeder for periodically dispensing feed to wild animals asrecited in claim 3 wherein said discharge pipe has a hinged cover thatcovers an end of said discharge pipe, said hinged cover opening whensaid burst of pressurized air and said feed pass there through,otherwise said hinged cover covering said end of said discharge pipe. 5.The totally enclosed remote animal feeder for periodically dispensingfeed to wild animals as recited in claim 4 wherein said junction has arestriction leading to said feed in said hopper, said restrictionlimiting the amount of said feed that can flow by gravity into saidjunction, and hence limiting said amount of said feed that can beprojected.
 6. The totally enclosed remote animal feeder for periodicallydispensing feed to wild animals as recited in claim 5 wherein saiddischarge pipe has a connection on the end thereof to help disperse saidfeed.
 7. The totally enclosed remote animal feeder for periodicallydispensing feed to wild animals as recited in claim 6 wherein said boxhas corner braces to keep said box upright.
 8. The totally enclosedremote animal feeder for periodically dispensing feed to wild animals asrecited in claim 7 wherein said top and said door are lockable.
 9. Amethod of periodic dispensing of feed in a remote area from a feedercomprising: locating said feeder in a proper location; filling a hopperin said feeder with feed, said hopper having a lower discharge opening;connecting a power source in said feeder to a pressure switch on apressure tank; turning on a compressor operating from said power sourceto pressurize said pressure tank if said pressure switch measurespressure in said pressure tank is below a predetermined level; setting atimer connected to said power source for periodic firing of a solenoidwhich operates a solenoid valve, said firing causing a burst ofpressurized air out of said pressure tank through a junction pipe;controlling amount of feed flow by gravity from said lower dischargeopening into said junction pipe; and projecting said burst of air andsaid feed from an elevated discharge pipe a distance away from saidfeeder.
 10. The method of periodic dispensing of feed from a feeder in aremote area as recited in claim 9 includes enclosing said feeder toprevent access to said feed by animals or varmints.
 11. The method ofperiodic dispensing of feed from a feeder in a remote area as recited inclaim 10 wherein said enclosing includes a counterbalanced hinged coverover an end of said elevated discharge pipe.
 12. The method of periodicdispensing of feed from a feeder in a remote area as recited in claim 11wherein said lower discharge opening may be changed in size for saidcontrolling amount of said feed flowing by gravity into said junctionpipe.
 13. The method of periodic dispensing of feed from a feeder in aremote area as recited in claim 12 wherein said feeder is approximatelyshoulder height and has a lid thereon, which lid can be opened and saidhopper filled with said feed while standing on the ground.
 14. Themethod of periodic dispensing of feed from a feeder in a remote area asrecited in claim 13 further including bracing said feeder with outwardlyextending legs to prevent animals from turning over said feeder.
 15. Themethod of periodic dispensing of feed from a feeder in a remote area asrecited in claim 14 further including a solar panel on an outside ofsaid feeder for recharging a battery, said battery being said powersource.